2 – DOMUS SQUARE (ENG)

For centuries, before the urban revolution of the 1500s culminated in the creation of nearby Piazza Alberica, the square of the Duomo was the heart of the ancient village of Carrara. It takes its name from the building that dominates it, the majestic Collegiate Church dedicated to Saint Andrew, renowned for its grand facade entirely clad in white Lunense marble interspersed with bands of black marble from Colonnata.

Beside the Duomo stands the 33-meter-high bell tower, documented as early as 1242, and the Statue of Neptune, better known as the Statue of the Giant, a masterpiece by sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. In front of the fountain lies a palace featuring a small niche on its facade where a putto is depicted covering his genitals with his hands—a legend claims this figure represented affronted modesty and that this very spot was where adulterous wives were exposed to public shame.

The square is also home to Cybo-Malaspina Palace, which today houses the Academy of Fine Arts. Additionally, an inscription on a building recalls that Michelangelo Buonarroti stayed several times in lodgings overlooking this square. During his long months in Carrara, he engaged with quarrymen, climbed to the marble quarries, learned the most intimate secrets of the stone, and meticulously inspected each block, which would later, in his hands, be transformed into a masterpiece.